Santa's Little Helper 2010 | Mikkeller ApS

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Opaque chocolatey brown in color with a good amount of tan head. Fair to good lacing and nice collar throughout. Aroma is a cornacopia of spices, some deep caramel, and faintly buttery. Very thick body and medium carbonation. Taste is rich caramel and all that spice! Taste is good, but the aroma hits me better. Well balanced, but kind of two dimensional.

The beer pours a brown color with a tan head. The aroma is roasted malt with some nice chocolate notes. I don't get much Belgian character in the aroma. The beer smells more like a porter than a Belgian Strong Dark Ale.

The flavor is heavy on the chocolate with some spices mixed in. The spices are definitely there, but they are hard to identify. I also get some smoke and tobacco notes in the flavor.

Pours black with a one-finger light brown head. The head recedes into a thin layer on top leaving solid lacing.

Smells of lightly roasted malts with large amounts of semi-sweet chocolate. Also present are hints of dark molasses. As it warms mild amounts of raspberry and black cherry aromas waft out.

Tastes similar to how it smells. Equal parts lightly roasted malt and rich dark chocolate flavors kick things off. Midway throught the sip the flavor profile turns more bitter with the addition of leafy and slightly pine-y hops. The hops fade out into a moderately bitter ending. As with the aroma, as the beer warms small amounts of fruit flavors come into play.

Mouthfeel is good. It's got a nice thickness with solid carbonation.

Drinkability is very good. I finished my glass quickly and could easily have a few more.

Overall this turned out to be a very nice Christmas beer. There is a good deal of complexity here however nothing manages to be overpowering. Well worth a shot if you see it on and I'm already looking forward to next year's.

Pours dark and looks great. Malt, espresso, spice. Very easy to drink. Some reviewed this beer as being bitter but I picked up very little - it was a very smooth and enjoyable beer. Good job Mikkeller. I will be looking for this again.

really a very interesting beer here. was not sure what to make going in but was very shocked by what i got in the end. picked up on sale for 7.99??ok. poure into a snifter and consumed on 01.15.2010.

really a great pour as a jet black body puts down two fingers worth of head that are really going nowhere. really very, very well done i have to say. aroma is cinnamon, nutmeg, lots of hops which i was not expecting, ground spices, roasted nuts and a hint of peat. very deep and complex and very much welcomed around here. flavor is more of the same with a light punch of hops pushing through before being taken over by a bum rush of holiday spices. lots of nutmeg and cinnamon, again a touch of light peat, brown sugar and a nice mix of dark fruit yeast that seem to seal the deal for me in the end. finish is very clean and the alcohol is hidden so well it was rediculous.
overall one of the most solid beers i have had in a really long time and was very much enjoyed as night cap.

Appearance: dark brown, highlights like a tawny port. Thick head on the pour with thick pretty lacing. A real looker this.
Smell: thick roasty and port like. Reminiscent of dfh wws.
Taste: Mostly delivers what the nose is sellin. Roasty, port like, the rum up front but balanced.
Overall: a very nice and unique beer. Thanks much to Chris at Boo's for landing this beauty.

Anchor Our Special Ale on steroids - that pretty much sums up this interesting winter offering. Dark, spruce rosin notes, roasted malt and holiday spices - allspice, gingerbread cookie, fruit cake. You name it, they tossed it in. Big abv works well with the swirling melange of flavors. If you hate OSA, you will despise this. But, if you love OSA . . .

Pours a dark brown with a small tan head that sits on the beer like a thick slick. Smells of puffed wheat, cinnamon, Ginger, clove, some faint chocolate. The taste is kind of weird. That puffed wheat, the same spices, cocoa powder, some spicy yeast, a little bitterness on the finish and a pleasant roastiness. The mouthfeel is wonderful; fluffy, velvety, carbonated, and very full. This has to be one of the strangest, yet most exciting winter beers that I've had. It gets sweeter and more caramelly as it warms along with a nice yeasty spice and alcohol prickle.

Taste- Fruity up front, cherry and raisons and I suppose some orange peel by power of suggestion. Belgian yeast then pops up along with some "holiday" spices. Finishes with slightly bitter coffee notes. Pretty complex. No alcohol is noticed at all, impressive for nearly 11%.

Mouthfeel- Medium carbonation, and fairly full bodied. It looks thicker than it actually is. Creamy and finishes clean.

Overall- This beer is great and is almost too easy to drink. It is expensive but deffinitely worth a try!

I'm a huge fan of the Mikkeller single hop ipa's and was very excited to see this on tap at the Amsterdam Ale House on Manhattan's Upper West Side. Not bad for the style, which is not one of my favorites.

Dark amber brown, maybe with a redish hue and a light brown head. Aroma is a combination of dark fruit, malt, hops. Flavor has a nice balance of fruit, malt, hops and alcohol. A little strong on the alcohol. If you like this style of beer, you'll love this. I look forward to trying additional beers from this brewery.

Poured from a 750 ml bottle, plugged with a really long cork, into a goblet. Pours a dark brown with a foamy tan head and excellent retention. Although the beer is listed above as being 9.4% abv, the bottle itself states it is 10.9% abv.

Sweet, like candied sugar, and slightly tart. Orange rind, clove, nutmeg, and brown sugar present up front, with a mild hop bitter catching at the end. A bit of yeastiness, woodiness, and herbal spice reside mid-mouth. A definite sipper, as this is quite complex and can be overwhelming if drank too quick.

Full-bodied, this is quite earthy feeling, with a dryness that presents only a while into the beer.

For as strong as this beer is, it is not boozy. It is, however, intense in flavor, and is one to be enjoyed throughout the evening.

2010 Vintage This beer pours a deep dark brown with a full mocha brown head that fades away rather quickly. The aroma is very interesting. It is full of chocolate, coffee, dark fruits like dates and plums, with a hint of citrusy hops. It is almost impossible to determine what this beer will taste like by the aroma, so we’d better take a sip and figure this thing out. It starts out with baker’s chocolate, with hints of spices like nutmeg and cinnamon. A slight citrusy bitterness works its way in, with hints of orange. The sweetness comes back with brown sugar, candied sugar, and then a hint of coffee. I’m not entirely sure what all they put into this beer when they made it, but it all works together fantastically.